Challenge
by LeoN WiNgsteiN
Summary: What exactly makes the companion cube so special? Pre-game oneshot.


_A/N: I remembered today that I had written this fic a while ago, but I had never typed or published it. I rummaged through some old notebooks and stuff, and I found it. It was only around 500 words and I wrote it back in _2011_, but I really liked it, so I added some stuff and reworked it a little to finish it off, make it a whole little story. I hope that it worked out well._

* * *

"Very good. You did very well on this test. Proceed to the next testing chamber."

A grin crept to my face. Although GLaDOS's metallic voice could seem shrill or unkind at times, I was always relieved when she told me I had finished a test. Passing tests was good. I was successful. I ran through the anti-matter particle field and to the elevator, as its doors closed around me.

"Be ready for your next test," mentioned GLaDOS from some speaker above me. "This test involves extra challenges."

_Challenges_. That was what I liked. That was what I lived for, for the rush of overcoming a challenge. That's why I was there, was it not? For a challenge?

The door slid open and I stepped out of the elevator. After briefly surveying the scene, I fired; blue shot there, orange shot there. Ready to go, but I had to time it. God only knows what boiled in that acidic pit—but one didn't need to be God to know it was bad to touch. It was a foul, evil liquid.

When I saw the moving platform had reached its optimal positioning, I leapt through orange and found myself on the platform, back to blue. I saw another moving platform, but I only had a split second for that maneuver: blue shot, orange shot, _jump_.

I landed on the second platform but found between me and safe ground were situated two turrets.

"I see you," one whispered.

_Oh shit—_ I thought, a moment too late. I shot twice, quickly, praying the portals would land me safely. I leapt—

—and found myself crashing down _on top_ of the two turrets. They continued firing as they fell into the eerie liquid below. I heard one say "I don't blame…" before it shorted out.

A shot to the wall, a shot to the safe floor. I jumped through. Instantly, what seemed like millions of lasers were trained upon me. Turrets, turrets everywhere. I heard their unified cry. "I see you."

In desperation, I leapt into the portal I had just come through. My velocity carried me through—and off the edge. I felt myself falling down, toward the liquid I had tried so hard to avoid. I tried shooting below me—blue, no, orange, no.

The warmth of the liquid enveloped me.

* * *

I was surprised to awaken. I had counted on death—what else could there have been after falling into that mysterious brew? And yet here I was, alive.

After the initial sensation of aliveness, I experienced _dark_; I found myself cramped in a very small enclosed space. My breathing was steady, so there was no airtightness to the enclosure. Moreover, I felt okay, good, even. I did not feel pain as one usually would in my position, knees drawn up to my chest with my head leaning into them.

I tried blinking my eyes, but I wasn't sure if I was successful or not—either way, all I saw was blackness. I could hear the muffled sound of _something_ outside of the enclosure, the sounds of the moving parts of something mechanical. Whatever it was, it felt strange to be a part of it, and yet e detached from it, isolated. For a brief moment, my mind flickered to a mention of "android hell" GLaDOS had mentioned in a warning to the turrets at one point during the testing. But I wasn't an android. I couldn't be there.

I felt movement. I wasn't moving—I was still stuck in my strange fetal position, without the ability to move. A thought in the back of my mind told me that I might be paralyzed. Had I fallen? I had—but I didn't hurt myself. The warm, noxious liquid that filled my consciousness before I had last closed my eyes filled my mind, and were I able to, I would have nodded in understanding. Then, a muffled voice came from the outside of my enclosure.

"The vital apparatus vent will deliver a weighted companion cube in 3… 2… 1…"

It was GLaDOS! I was alive—or at least something close to it. My heart rose, and I felt myself drop down from somewhere up high to collide with what seemed to be the floor. The cubish enclosure I was trapped inside of flipped over a few times in its landing, but I wasn't jostled—I was aware of the movement, but not affected by it. Then, I felt the enclosure roughly lifted from the floor.

"This weighted companion cube will accompany you through the test chamber. Please take care of it."

_This must be another challenge_, I thought. That made sense. My challenge was to wait here, wait and be patient, until it was my turn to make a move. GLaDOS was always ready with more challenges.

And I was ready for the next challenge, when it was ready for me.


End file.
